"so he kicked you out after you kissed him?"

"basically, yeah."

"yikes, he's even more denial than i thought."

"shut up melanie," tyler groaned as he pushed past the small girl and stomped into his house. he trudged up the stairs and into his room, pulling off the outfit melanie had chosen and slipping into a pair of sweatpants instead. he sat at the edge of his bed and buried his face into his hands, trying his best not to scream in annoyance.

"oh lighten up a bit you big grump!" melanie teased as she lightly punched tyler's shoulder. he shooed her hand away and crossed his arms over his chest, huffing loudly as he turned away from her.

"lighten up? i just made a fool out of myself!"

"he probably liked it," melanie giggled, standing up and gathering her clothes off of the floor where tyler dropped them. "if you're gonna be like this i'm gonna go, call me when you get that cactus out of your ass."

she skipped out of the room and shortly after tyler heard his front door slam shut. he stood up from his bed and made his way downstairs, walking into the kitchen and grabbing a pint of ice cream out of his freezer. he sat on his couch and turned netflix on as he decided to watch bob's burgers. it was going to be a long night.

☆ﾐ

tyler stood outside in his bathing suit, a bucket of ice tight in his grasp as he prepared himself for the cold it was about to bring. it was 103° and he was not about to ask josh if he could go swimming, but he was also not about to die from overheating. as he struggled to lift the bucket over his head he heard small giggles coming from the opposite side of the fence. he set the ice down and tip-toed over to the fence, peering over to the other side to see josh and a girl with honey colored hair laying on a pool float together. tyler assumed that the girl was debby by the close proximity the two were cuddling at.

he shrugged to himself and walked back over to his bucket, gripping the handles tightly. tyler lifted it up with shaky arms and right as he was about to turn it over his hand slipped from where it was holding, causing the whole thing to fall onto his head with a loud thud. he toppled to the ground alongside the bucket from the force it hit him and he let out a yelp of pain as he held onto his throbbing head. he went to sit up but his vision started blurring and he was sure he must've gotten a concussion.

tyler began to panic as he realized that he was stuck there until someone found him, which could be years for all he knew. what if he died there? he couldn't stand up which meant that he wasn't able to get his phone to call for help; he was basically left to die. a plan quickly formed in his mind as he heard more laughing coming from josh's pool.

"help! please, somebody help me!" tyler yelled out in hopes to get his neighbor's attention, internally praying that josh wasn't a big enough asshole to ignore his pleas.

tyler's prayers were answered as josh and debby rushed over the fence to him, staring down in confusion at the sight of the boy curled up on the ground clutching his head with a bucket and ice sprawled out around him.

"holy shit tyler, are you okay?" josh questioned as he stifled his laughter and kneeled down next to the injured boy.

"i think i have a concussion, take me to the hospital," tyler groaned. "i'll explain later, just please find a way to get me to your car so i can get looked at by a professional."

a few minutes later tyler was in the backseat of josh's car with an ice pack pressed against his head and a confused debby looking at him from the passenger seat.

"so what exactly happened?" josh cleared his throat as he turned out of their street and onto the main road.

"i dropped a bucket of ice on my head..." tyler cringed at how stupid the words sounded once they left his mouth and he made a mental note to bury a grave for himself (once his head was healed of course).

"i'm not even gonna ask," josh chuckled, shaking his head with a big smile on his face.

"i'm debby by the way," the girl chirped as she stuck her hand out for tyler to shake.

"i'm tyler," he responded as he shook her hand.

"josh told me that you went swimming at our place yesterday with your friend, i wish i could've been there it sounded so fun," she spoke as she kept her gaze on tyler. "why didn't you just ask to come swimming again? would've saved you a concussion."

"i didn't want to disturb you guys, josh said you've been gone for a while," tyler made an excuse, shuddering as he saw josh glaring at him through the mirror.

"nonsense! you wouldn't be bothering us at all," she assured and tyler began to regret the small kiss he shared with josh. debby was so nice and josh would've never even thought about kissing someone else if it wasn't for tyler. he was too wrapped up in his own self-pity that he didn't notice the car pull into a parking space at the front of the emergency room.

"tyler? c'mon hop on," josh opened the car door and leaned down so tyler could sit on his back.

"why are you giving me a piggyback ride?"

"you have to get in there somehow, now get on," josh shrugged as tyler haphazardly crawled on and rested his head on josh's shoulder. josh hoisted tyler up a bit more and walked through the automatic doors with the boy resting on his back. he approached the nurse behind the desk and gave her a charming smile before speaking.

"my friend uh-"

"tyler joseph."

"my friend tyler joseph here dropped a bucket on his head and he thinks he got a concussion," josh said, trying his best not to laugh at the look the woman gave him as she typed some information into the computer.

"take a seat, you'll be called back when the doctor is ready to see you," she sighed as she ushered the three to the waiting room. josh set tyler down in a seat and sat down between him and debby.

it was quiet for a few minutes before tyler's name was called out and josh was once again carrying tyler on his back as they all followed the doctor to the room.

the tall man turned to tyler with a clipboard in his hand. "so, tyler, what exactly happened today?"

"i dropped a bucket of ice on my head," tyler awkwardly chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "and then i fell but when i went to stand up i got really dizzy and i have a huge headache."

"i'll give you a routine concussion check and we'll see where to go from there."

☆ﾐ

"i can't believe you got a concussion from that," debby giggled as they all piled into the car.

"neither can i," tyler mumbled as he closed his eyes and leaned his head back into the seat cushion. he was given strict instructions to not use his phone or read or watch t.v., it was going to be a long few weeks.

"if you ever need anything don't hesitate to contact josh or i, we'll be happy to help."

"don't worry about it, i can just get help from my friend melanie," tyler opened his eyes as the car came to a stop in front of his house and he began to gather the information packet the doctor had provided.

"i'll help you carry that stuff in," josh interrupted as he took the papers from tyler and helped him stand out of the car. the two walked up to tyler's front door and tyler reached into his plant, pulling out the key so he could unlock the door. they filed inside and josh led tyler to the couch, sitting down beside him once he was settled in.

"do you need anything else?" josh asked as he looked beside him to see tyler staring up at the ceiling.

"i'm good for now, thank you though. and tell debby i say bye," tyler said as he switched his gaze to josh and gave a wary grin.

"will do. bye tyler, feel better," josh called out right before he closed the door behind him, sending one last smile to tyler before he was out of sight.

•••
a/n

merry christmas guys!!! i hope you all have an amazing day💖💖💖
-carina